NAACP to discuss racial incidents at school

The Ogden branch of the NAACP planned a press conference at North Layton Junior High later Tuesday to discuss a series of racial incidents at the school.

In January, letters on North Layton's marquee were changed into a racial slur - from "Smile Bigger" to "Smile Nigger." The NAACP says the incident is one of several racial incidents, including verbal abuse and hate crimes.The marquee incident was investigated by the school, but no culprit was found, said principal John Zurbuchen. The investigation was turned over to the Layton Police Department.

"The sign is reprehensible. The sign is an act of some coward, obviously some racist coward. There can be nothing worse than that," Zurbuchen said.

Lamenting the school was not "as proactive as we should be" with that and other incidents to follow, Zurbuchen has scheduled student and faculty training sessions with the State Office of Education and plans to attend an equity conference next month.

About 170 of the school's 1,330 students are non-whites.

The district has received no civil rights complaints about the incidents, either written or verbal, said David Doty, school district attorney.